Perhaps many people today suffer from low self-esteem. There could be many reasons for this, comparing ourselves to TV personalities or lifestyles, bad experiences at home or at school, or many other reasons.One of the troubles, I think , in relation to self-esteem, is that we are holding ourselves up against the wrong set of measures. Our self-esteem should not be based on how clever we are, nor how physically strong or beautiful we are, nor how talented we are in various ways, nor how wealthy we are. While each of these things may have value in the right context, that context should not include measures of self-esteem or self-worth. Should we measure ourselves at all - yes I think we should. We should aim at improving ourselves, by identifying our faults and seeking to improve on them. But having the right measure is essential, otherwise we may be working on the wrong things and towards the wrong goals. So on what basis then should we measure ourselves for the purposes of improving our self-worth? I believe it should be on our heart, and on our love. Thus it does not matter so much if you are not as articulate as someone, nor as knowledgeable, nor as clever. It does matter whether your intentions and actions are driven by love for others (and God) as compared with love for self or personal gain. Thus perhaps each day at least, we should introspect on our actions and motivations during the day, and seek to identify and eliminate those motivations and actions that arose from selfishness. Of course, improvement on this front will be substantially helped by prayer and requests for help, but most importantly we should be judging ourselves by the right measure.